International Shiraz Day | Thursday 23 July 2026

Same grape, eight very different personalities. One dish for each, and one takeaway order for the nights you are not cooking.

1. Wine Lovers Shiraz with Seared Salmon

Red wine with salmon raises eyebrows, and then it works. The trick is the plum-soy glaze, which meets the plum and cherry in the glass halfway. This is the everyday celebration plate: bright, generous, no occasion required.

2024 Wine Lovers Shiraz

Seared Salmon with Plum-Soy Glaze, Charred Bok Choy and Black Sesame

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets, skin on, about 180g each
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 4 baby bok choy, halved lengthways
• 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper

For the plum-soy glaze

• 3 ripe plums, stoned and roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, finely grated
• 2cm piece ginger, finely grated

Method

1. Make the glaze first. Put the plums, soy, sugar, vinegar, garlic and ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 10 to 12 minutes until the plums collapse, and the mixture thickens to a loose syrup. Blend smooth if you like it glossy or leave it rustic. Set aside.
2. Pat the salmon dry and season the skin well. This matters more than anything else for a crisp finish.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high. Lay the salmon in skin side down and press gently for the first few seconds so it stays flat. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes without moving it, until the skin is deeply golden and releases easily.
4. Flip and cook for 1 to 2 minutes only. The centre should stay blushing pink. Rest on a warm plate.
5. In the same pan, add the bok choy cut side down and char for 2 minutes until the edges blacken slightly and the stems soften.
6. Plate the salmon skin side up, spoon the glaze over generously, add the bok choy and scatter with black sesame.

Why it works: the fruit sweetness in the glaze bridges the gap between a rich fish and a red wine, while the wine's black pepper lift keeps everything fresh.

Not cooking tonight? Butter chicken and garlic naan

The everyday celebration wine deserves an everyday celebration order. Butter chicken is creamy and mildly spiced rather than fiery, which is exactly where this wine is comfortable: its juicy red fruit and silky tannins have enough sweetness to sit alongside the sauce, and the black pepper lift stops the whole thing from turning heavy. Tear the garlic naan, pour a glass, and call it a Friday.

2. Grass Roots Shiraz with Spiced Cauliflower Steak

Down to earth in the truest sense. A whole vegetable treated like the main event, and a wine grown close to the soil. No fuss, nothing to prove.

2023 Grass Roots Shiraz

Spiced Roasted Cauliflower Steak with Black Olive Tapenade, Tomato Sugo and Fresh Herbs

Serves 4 (vegan)

Ingredients

• 2 large cauliflowers
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper
• A handful of flat-leaf parsley and basil, roughly torn

For the sugo

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 800g tinned whole tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar

For the tapenade

• 150g pitted kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220C. Trim the cauliflower leaves and stand each head upright. Cut two thick steaks, about 3cm, from the centre of each. Keep the offcuts for another day.
2. Mix the oil with the paprika, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Brush both sides of each steak generously.
3. Roast on a lined tray for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once, until deeply charred at the edges and tender through the stem.
4. Meanwhile, make the sugo. Heat the oil in a pan, soften the onion for 8 minutes, add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomatoes and sugar. Crush the tomatoes with a spoon and simmer gently for 20 minutes until thick. Season.
5. For the tapenade, pulse the olives, capers, garlic, oil and lemon juice to a coarse paste. Leave it rough.
6. Spoon the sugo onto warm plates, sit a cauliflower steak on top, add a spoonful of tapenade and scatter with the herbs.

Why it works: the char and the earthy spice meet the savoury spice and earth on the nose, while the tomato's acidity keeps the wine's black fruit sweetness in balance.

Not cooking tonight? Lamb shawarma with hot chips

Meat off the spit, wrapped in flatbread, eaten with your hands. There is nothing pretentious about it, which is the whole point of this wine. The char and the warm spice line up with the savoury, earthy notes in the glass, and those gentle tannins do not need a fancy plate to make sense of them. Get the chips in the wrap. That is not negotiable.

3. Signature Series Shiraz with 12-Hour Beef Short Ribs

Mark's own range, from the Borenore vineyard. A wine that spans a Tuesday and a celebration, matched to a dish that takes all day and asks almost nothing of you.

2024 Signature Series Shiraz

From our vineyard at Borenore, or 'North Bore', so named for the underground water found in this area.

12-Hour Slow-Cooked Beef Short Ribs with Star Anise, Soy and Ginger Glaze

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2kg beef short ribs, cut into individual bones
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 4 star anise
• 6cm piece ginger, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, bruised
• 150ml soy sauce
• 100ml Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
• 80g brown sugar
• 1 cinnamon quill
• 750ml beef stock
• 2 spring onions, sliced, to finish

Method

1. Heat the oven to 120C. Pat the ribs dry and season.
2. Brown the ribs in the oil in a heavy casserole, in batches, until dark on all sides. Take your time here; this is where the flavour is built. Set aside.
3. In the same pot, add the star anise, ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Add the soy, Shaoxing, sugar, cinnamon and stock. Bring to a simmer and scrape the base of the pot.
5. Return the ribs, cover tightly, and cook in the oven for 10 to 12 hours. Overnight works well. The meat should give way completely.
6. Lift the ribs out carefully. Strain the liquid, skim the fat, then reduce in a wide pan over high heat for 15 to 20 minutes until glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon.
7. Return the ribs to the glaze and turn to coat. Finish with spring onion.

Why it works: the star anise and cinnamon pick up the wine's spice and vanilla oak, and the wine's cool-climate freshness stops a very rich dish from becoming heavy.

Not cooking tonight? Peking duck pancakes

Same flavour territory as the short ribs, none of the twelve hours. Sweet hoisin, rich duck, cool cucumber and spring onion in a thin pancake, and a wine full of blueberry, black plum and toasty vanilla oak sitting right alongside. This is a genuinely excellent match rather than a novelty one, and it turns a takeaway order into something that feels like an occasion.

4. Point 65 Shiraz with Roquefort and Honeycomb

Restraint, on both sides. Two ingredients, no cooking, and a wine confident enough not to need decoration.

2024 Point 65 Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

Roquefort with Honeycomb

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 200g Roquefort, at room temperature
• 100g raw honeycomb
• A handful of walnut halves
• Thin water crackers or a plain sourdough baguette

Method

1. Take the Roquefort out of the fridge a full hour before serving. Cold cheese tastes of very little, and this is the whole dish.
2. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until they smell nutty. Cool.
3. Cut the honeycomb into rough pieces. Do not tidy it; the mess is the point.
4. Arrange the cheese, honeycomb and walnuts on a board with the crackers or sliced bread. Serve as it is.

Why it works: blue cheese and red wine is a genuine test, and this one passes because the wine's ripe tannins have something to hold onto. The honey softens the salt, the walnut echoes the savoury oak spice.

Not cooking tonight? Wood-fired margherita pizza

A restrained wine wants restrained food. Tomato, basil, mozzarella and a properly blistered crust, nothing more, which leaves the cherry and redcurrant plenty of room to speak. A loaded meat-lovers would bury this wine completely. Order the simplest thing on the menu, and you will understand why the whole range is built the way it is.

5. Point 65 Single Vineyard Syrah with Roasted Field Mushrooms

Same grape, different name. Syrah rather than Shiraz signals the style: cooler, more peppery, more restrained. From Block 12 at Borenore, hand-picked off 25-year-old vines.

2025 Point 65 Single Vineyard Syrah

Silver, 2026 Royal Queensland Wine Show.

Roasted Field Mushrooms with Thyme, Garlic and Taleggio

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 8 large field mushrooms, stems trimmed
• 60g butter, softened
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves, plus sprigs to serve
• 200g taleggio, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Wipe the mushrooms clean rather than washing them; they hold water badly.
2. Mash the butter with the garlic, thyme, a good pinch of salt and plenty of pepper.
3. Sit the mushrooms gill side up on a lined tray. Drizzle with olive oil, then divide the garlic butter between them.
4. Roast for 15 minutes, until they have softened and released their juices.
5. Lay the taleggio over the top and return to the oven for 5 to 6 minutes, until melted and just starting to colour.
6. Finish with thyme sprigs and another crack of pepper. Serve with bread to catch the juices.

Why it works: mushrooms bring the savoury, earthy weight that meets the whiff of smoked meat in the glass, and the washed-rind taleggio has enough character to stand up to those chalky tannins.

Not cooking tonight? Portuguese chicken

Charred, smoky, herby chicken off the grill, with lemon and garlic doing the heavy lifting. That char is the bridge: it meets the smoked-meat note on the nose, and the wine's white pepper and whole-bunch spice find the marinade. Keep the peri-peri mild. Heat sharpens tannins, and this is a wine built on finesse rather than force.

6. Bull In A China Shop Pétillant Rouge with Kangaroo Skewers

The one that refuses to sit still. Sparkling red is already a bit of a provocation, so we may as well go the whole way with the plate.

Bull In A China Shop Pétillant Rouge

Serve it chilled. Sparkling red is at its best cold.

Chargrilled Kangaroo Skewers with Bush Tomato Relish

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 800g kangaroo fillet, cut into 3cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons ground native pepperberry, or cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground wattleseed (optional)
• Sea salt
• 8 metal or soaked wooden skewers

For the bush tomato relish

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons ground bush tomato (akudjura)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Method

1. Make the relish first. Soften the onion in the oil for 8 minutes, add the garlic for a minute, then the tomatoes, bush tomato, vinegar and sugar. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until thick and jammy. Season and set aside.
2. Toss the kangaroo with the oil, pepperberry and wattleseed. Leave for 20 minutes at room temperature. Salt just before cooking.
3. Thread onto skewers, four or five pieces each, not packed too tightly.
4. Get a chargrill or barbecue very hot. Cook the skewers for 90 seconds a side, no more. Kangaroo is extremely lean and turns to leather if you push it past medium-rare.
5. Rest for 5 minutes, which is not optional here.
6. Pile onto a plate and spoon the relish over generously.

Why it works: the bubbles and bright acidity cut clean through lean, iron-rich game, and the wine's forest floor character meets the native spice. Chilled sparkling red with barbecue is one of the great underrated matches.

Not cooking tonight? Hot spicy fried chicken

Chilled sparkling red against crisp, salty, spicy fried chicken is one of the great pairings, and we will not be taking questions. The bubbles scrub the palate clean between bites, the chill takes the edge off the heat, and the bright black and blue fruit handles the salt without breaking a sweat. Serve it colder than you think you should.

7. Lizard Drinking Shiraz with Grilled Prawns

Built to travel light, in a slim recycled and recyclable bottle. This is the one that goes camping, so the plate should too.

2022 Lizard Drinking Shiraz (rPET Bottle)

Grilled Prawns with Garlic Butter and Smoked Paprika

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1kg large green prawns, shells on, butterflied
• 100g butter
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• Juice of 1 lemon, plus wedges to serve
• A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Sea salt

Method

1. Butterfly the prawns by cutting down the back through the shell and removing the dark vein. Leave the shells on; they protect the flesh and carry the smoke.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan with the garlic and paprika over low heat for 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic colour. Add the lemon juice and a good pinch of salt.
3. Heat a barbecue or grill plate until very hot.
4. Brush the prawns with some of the butter and grill cut side down for 2 minutes, then turn and grill for another 1 to 2 minutes until the flesh is opaque.
5. Pile onto a platter, pour over the remaining garlic butter, scatter with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Why it works: yes, red wine with prawns. The smoked paprika is the bridge, meeting the smoky bacon and cracked pepper in the glass, and the char from the grill does the rest.

Out travelling with your Lizard? A sausage sizzle with caramelised onions

White bread, a snag off the hotplate, a pile of soft sweet onions and tomato sauce if you must. This wine was made for exactly this: full, plush and round enough to handle it, with a smoky, peppery finish that meets the char off the grill. The caramelised onion is the secret, its sweetness picking up the blueberry and plum. Best eaten standing up, somewhere outdoors, from a bottle you can throw in the esky without a second thought.

8. Jack Squat Shiraz with Cheddar and Fig Jam

The no-fuss one. Gently dealcoholised from our organic Shiraz, so everyone gets to join in. A board, a knife, and no cooking required.

Jack Squat Shiraz

Gently dealcoholised from our premium organic Shiraz. No added sugar. Best consumed the day of opening.

Vintage Sharp Cheddar with Fig Jam and Crackers

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 250g vintage sharp cheddar
• 4 fresh figs, halved
• Seeded crackers
• A handful of roasted almonds

For the fig jam

• 400g dried figs, stems removed, roughly chopped
• 250ml water
• 100g caster sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cinnamon quill

Method

1. For the jam, put the dried figs, water, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer.
2. Cook gently for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the figs are completely soft and the liquid has reduced to a thick syrup.
3. Remove the cinnamon and blend to a coarse jam, adding a splash of water if it is too stiff. Cool. It keeps in the fridge for two weeks, so it is worth making ahead.
4. Take the cheddar out of the fridge an hour before serving.
5. Build the board: cheddar cut into rough wedges, a bowl of fig jam, the fresh figs, crackers and almonds.

Why it works: sharp aged cheddar needs sweetness and fruit to balance it, and this wine brings blackberry and plum without any alcohol warmth to compete with the salt.

Not cooking tonight? A burger with the lot

Beetroot, egg, cheese, the whole architecture, with chips on the side. Blackberry, plum and warm pepper with no alcohol warmth means this handles a big salty burger without turning heavy halfway through. It is the everyday table where everyone is welcome, and nobody has to feel like they drew the short straw.